Isabel Healthcare Blog

Every month we try to highlight a monthly observance and raise awareness for a cause in the medical field. July is women with alopecia month in the US, and we’re giving you the ins and outs of this condition, covering what is known about the types and causes of alopecia.

June is “Speak about Aphasia Month” in the UK. Aphasia is defined as a longterm communication disability, most often associated with other primary diseases such as strokes, and this year’s theme for aphasia month is the hashtag #recogniseaphasia. Organizations around the UK are raising awareness of the causes, symptoms and effects of aphasia on those who have this condition. Aphasia affects 350,000 people in the UK and 2 million in the US, so it’s certainly not rare. In this post we’ll go over the symptoms of aphasia, some of the treatments and therapies that are available, and the main causes as well.

Dysphagia is the medical term used to describe patients who have difficulty swallowing and is common, especially in the older generation, although it can occur at any age. Each year 1 in 25 adults will experience a swallowing problem in the United States. 

The normal mechanical process of deglutition, or the act of swallowing, transfers a food or liquid bolus which has been ingested and transports it from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus.  If this process is interrupted via disease or motility issues, then two types of dysphagia can occur.

Summer is almost here! And with it’s arrival comes the annual search for the suncream bottle. While the message has got through to most of us about the importance of using skin protection when in the sun, surveys reveal that many of us aren’t using products correctly, and are consequently putting ourselves at increased risk of skin related conditions, and most worryingly, skin cancer. Getting sunburn just once every 2 years can triple your risk of skin cancer and yet, according to skin experts,  9 out of 10 cases of melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, could be prevented, by avoiding sunbeds and using adequate sun protection.

When people think of the liver, a lot of the time they think of alcohol, and the fact that too much drinking can damage your liver. This is indeed true, as one of the liver’s main jobs is to filter the blood, including filtering out the toxins from alcohol and drugs. However, liver disease, which is an umbrella term for conditions affecting the liver, can have many causes, from sexually transmitted infections to autoimmune conditions. We’ll be going over some of the main causes, types and symptoms of liver disease in today’s blogpost, so that you can better understand your symptoms and take control of your health.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, surpassed only by cardiovascular diseases. What’s more, around 80% of the people who get heart disease are over 65, whereas with cancer overall, that number is reduced to around 50%. This means cancer has probably affected everyone at some point, be that with a diagnosis yourself, or when someone in your life has had cancer. This is why we write about cancer quite a lot on the blog, most recently having done a crash course series on the types of cancer, and the treatments that may be offered to you should you be diagnosed. We aim to demystify and help make sense of as many types of cancer as we can, and today’s blogpost is no different. We’ve written about blood cancer as a whole before, and we have a post on Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but we have never gone into detail about leukemia, with which around 60,000 people are diagnosed each year in the US alone. In this blogpost we’ll go over the main types of leukemia, the signs and symptoms to look out for, and how the disease is treated.

World IBD Day falls on May 19th each year, and is a time for countries around the world to get together and raise awareness for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). This year, Australia used the hashtag #FlushTheStigma to help encourage conversation about conditions that in the past have been, and a lot of the time still are, associated with embarrassment or shame. America aimed to break down borders and make #IBDvisible as well, and the UK had a clever campaign entitled “It Takes Guts,” again talking about ending the stigma and opening up dialogue on IBD. We’ve written briefly about IBD in our blogpost “IBD vs IBS - what’s the difference?” where we gave an overview of the 2 main types of IBD, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This week, we want to go more in depth and talk about these diseases, hopefully helping to end the stigma and show that IBD is a part of life for some and is nothing to be ashamed of.

Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK takes place this week and is organized by the Mental Health Foundation. Each year an issue is selected and focused on to raise awareness of how that issue is linked to Mental Health, and to open up conversations around the topic.  This year’s topic is “Body Image – How we think and feel about our bodies.” Body image has a big impact on all our lives and a UK poll released this week by the Mental Health Foundation found that out of 4,500 UK adults:

• One in 5 adults (20%) felt shame about their body image
• One in 3 (34%) felt down or low
• 19% felt disgusted because of their body image in the past year

1,118 UK teenagers (age 13-19) reported that 37% felt upset and 31% felt ashamed with their body image.

May 10^th is World Lupus Day, when charities around the world aim to raise awareness of the often devastating impact this disease can have on the lives of sufferers. Raising funds for research into a cure is one aim of World Lupus Day. Increasing awareness, however, of the many symptoms of lupus, is also key as early diagnosis is critical in helping to prevent major organ damage, and in extreme cases, failure.

This blogpost is part of a 2 week series, helping demystify the world of cancer diagnosis and treatment. We all know cancer is a serious, often life-threatening disease, and that it takes many forms. We’ve also probably heard words like ‘grade II’ and ‘radiotherapy’ when talking about it, but do we really know what these terms mean, and if we were told we had cancer, would we know what was to come? It can be hard to go there and think about the unthinkable, but equipping yourself with this knowledge now could help save your life when discussing your diagnosis and treatment options should you get cancer. Likewise, if you have already had a cancer diagnosis, you may be overwhelmed and unsure of the process from this point, so we’ve created a quick overview of cancer terms. The first blogpost last week discussed the diagnostic process and the grades and stages of cancer that medical professionals use. This week, we’re focussing on the treatment of cancer. As different cancers have different treatment plans, it can get confusing very quickly. However, there is some information that can help in understanding the options being presented to you by your doctor or specialist.